Rereading

[supergee]

In my continuing battle with the form of realism known as depression, I have been sitting in front of a full-spectrum light 20 minutes a day. I have taken that opportunity to reread a couple of classic polymath books. Having concluded this iteration of Cultural Amnesia by Clive James, I am turning to Guy Davenport's Geography of the Imagination. I am enjoying them again and recommend them to one and all.

Comments

[desert_dragon]

What brand/type of light do you use? I'm looking for something since we no longer live in the desert. The SF Bay Area is very gloomy and my SAD has returned to full force.

[supergee]

We're not terribly sure. Ours may just be very bright. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[johnpalmer]

(ETA: This may be geek answer syndrome - in me, it's my way of saying "Hey, I care about you, and I hate depression, so I'm going to talk because I can't think of anything else to do, except, you know, send good wishes and hope. Which I'm also doing. Good luck, rapid recover!)

Actually, that's the point of SAD treatment. (Warning: possible out of date knowledge, this was all true when I researched it:) Full Spectrum doesn't mean anything; it's not a regulated term by any government agency, and it isn't an industry term of art. It basically means "we think you'll like this light".

Light does have a temperature Kelvin rating - and this has a lot to do with how we perceive it. And, of course, if light is blue, as in, shine it on white paper, the white paper looks like blue paper, it's got a specific color, and it's not white and able to split into the "full spectrum" of the rainbow.

At one point, it was shown that 10,000 lumens for 15-30 minutes helped; 5000 for 30-60 helped; 2500 for 60-120 helped; lower than 2500 wasn't proven to help.

There is some research into light color, and I think blue light is a big deal these days - I have no information about it, but I know that the notion of blue light from tablets and phones interrupting sleep is mentioned frequently-enough in pop-science articles, and I've heard blue light might help more than white, at lower intensities.

I do know one thing: make sure that the light is claiming a UV filter, or wear clear safety glasses that block UV. You don't want to shine the light in your eyes, but you will get some in there, and too much UV is bad for your eyes. (Um. And, shaking babies is bad for them. Don't shake babies. And make sure the elevator is *there* before stepping into the elevator shaft. Any other "well, *DUH*" warnings I can give while mentioning too much UV is bad for your eyes? Sorry.)

(Wouldn't it have been faster to delete the warning, than mock myself? Probably.)